Exec Hires At Warner/Chappell
February 18, 2009
- Publishing
By Ed Christman, N.Y.
In a move to bolster its A&R staff, Warner/Chappell Music has hired Lee Dannay and Brad Aarons, both as VP of A&R, and Peter Visvardis as senior director of A&R. All three report to Warner/Chappell senior VP and head of A&R Greg Sowders.
Based in New York, Dannay, a 17-year music industry veteran, works with the company's existing roster of songwriters as well as identifying and signing emerging songwriters. She also serves as a creative liaison with the company's foreign affiliates in placing songs on recorded artists' records outside the U.S. and working with its international songwriters in securing placements on U.S.-based recording projects.
Prior to joining Warner/Chappell Music, Dannay founded GoodWorks Music, an artist development and consulting company and also was a partner in Knock Out Noise, an academic and research-based operation involved in studying musical content and composition to be used for practical music therapy.
Previously, Dannay was A&R VP at Columbia Records from 1998 to 2006 where she signed John Mayer and Shawn Mullins, according to the announcement. In addition, Dannay also worked with Anna Nalick, Train, Five for Fighting and Mat Kearney, among others. From 1992 to 1998, Dannay served as A&R director for Epic Records.
Aarons, based in Los Angeles, was previously GM/VP of creative for Liberal Arts Music Publishing, a joint venture between company founder David Massey, and EMI Music Publishing. While there, he ran the company's day-to-day creative and administrative operations, identifying and signing emerging songwriters.
From 2006 to 2008, Aaron, who began his music industry career in 1999 with Epic, was creative affairs director for BMG Music Publishing which became Universal Music Publishing Group, and before that he worked as a talent manager for a number of emerging and established artists/songwriters.
Visvardis, based in New York, is responsible for working with Warner/Chappell's existing Rock and Pop artists-songwriters and catalog as well as identifying new talent and focusing on A&R research.
Previously, Visvardis served as A&R director for Zomba Music Publishing where he signed and oversaw artists and songwriters including 30 Seconds to Mars, Flyleaf and David Bendeth. From 2002 to 2005, he held the same title at Columbia Records. Prior to that, he served as national director of sales and marketing for Rampage Music, and before that he worked as A&R research manager at Universal Records.
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